


The Dangers of Office Christmas Parties

by Minervas_Revenge



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 11:12:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7755490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minervas_Revenge/pseuds/Minervas_Revenge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione finds out she is pregnant on Christmas Eve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dangers of Office Christmas Parties

“Ms. Granger, are you -?”

 

Hermione went white and then dashed for the loo, pushing past Lucius and Neville.

 

After losing her lunch, the witch sat on the cold tile of the bathroom, regaining her equilibrium. She’d eaten at the Ministry cafeteria – the food they served was strictly regulated. It was unlikely that her meal had been spoiled.

 

Hermione washed her face, and rinsed her mouth with tap water, pondering her illness. It had come on so suddenly…

 

An unwholesome suspicion filled her mind as she recalled the Christmas party and that her memory of that night after a certain point was clouded. She had dismissed her lack of recollection as too much to drink. There had been no reason to linger on the thought – _everyone_ had been drinking at the party.

 

It was possible, never mind how unlikely, that she’d gone home with a wizard.

 

It was also possible, never mind how _unethical_ , that he’d Obliviated her.

 

A slow burn of anger filled her gut and she decided to get at least one answer. The experimental potions laboratory would have the ingredients for a Pregnancy Detection Potion. Hermione methodically dried her hands and stalked out of the bathroom. The chance that she’d been intimate with a wizard and he’d meddled with her memory shocked her to her core. _Anything could have happened!_

 

“Hermione,” Neville said, voice full of concern. He and Lucius were still standing in front of her office.

 

“Are you well?” Lucius asked, his pale eyes oddly anxious.

 

“I must attend to something,” she muttered lamely, unable to create a better excuse.

 

Neville said something to Lucius as she hurried for the lift but their gossipy assumptions were the furthest concern from her mind.

 

Hermione detested inequity and those that abused their authority but she squeezed her celebrity for every drop of influence to get in and out of the lab with a small cauldron of ingredients. Then, she claimed the closest bathroom for herself and charmed the door locked. No sense advertising that she might be pregnant… Not to mention that if she was, she didn’t know the baby’s father…

 

Fuming, Hermione chucked the ingredients into the bubbling cauldron. If she ever found out the identity of the wizard, she’d hex his knob off!

 

Hermione spit into the cauldron and felt ill all over again as it the potion turned blue. She slumped to the floor, astounded. It was shocking! She’d had sex with someone and gotten pregnant! Unthinkable!

 

After absorbing the idea of pregnancy and her _options_ , the witch slowly began to vanish the evidence of her erased evening. She unlocked the bathroom and made her way leisurely back to her office. Hermione was sitting down, staring at a Pensieve before she realized what she was looking at.

 

The shallow bowl glinted with memory.

 

Startled from her reverie, Hermione slammed her door with a sharp flick of her wand and dove into the memory. She found herself at the Ministry Christmas party of two weeks prior.

 

The remembered Hermione was under a sprig of mistletoe, snogging Lucius Malfoy as if her life depended on it. Hermione gave a giggle of disbelief but choked with pained anger. The rotten wizard had Obliviated her!

 

She heard herself ask Lucius if he’d like to take her home and felt a rush of giddy joy to see him do something to her ear that made her eyes close in bliss. But it wasn’t her memory. As far as she was concerned, it had never happened.

 

Around her, the memory went cloudy and she was standing in her moonlit bedroom while she moaned under Lucius. Fog enveloped her once more and she was witness to a dressed Lucius, Obliviating her as she slept. Hermione tore herself from the wizard’s tortured expression and whispered ‘forgive me.’

 

Hermione could have cast an Unforgivable, she was so mad. Why had he done it..? And why had he shared the memory..? He probably suspected the truth – that she was pregnant with his child…

 

Terrified rage rushed through her. She’d grown to admire Lucius in the last year, serving with him on the International Council of Wizards but knowing how he felt about Muggle-borns, Hermione had never given herself the opportunity to think of him as more than a co-worker. It was ludicrous. The wizard had been a Death Eater!

 

Hermione swept up the Pensieve and carried it with her as she headed to face the villain. A couple of quick spells eliminated the wards on his door and she shoved it open.

 

Lucius stood ready for battle, wand pointing at her and Hermione entered his office the same way.

 

“Is that necessary?” she breathed, surprised at her own breathlessness.

 

“That depends on you,” he replied in an infuriatingly calm tone.

 

Hermione’s grip began to shake and she dropped her arm. She wasn’t going to hurt him – not until she had some answers, anyway. Lucius followed her lead and slowly lowered his wand. Hermione moved closer to him, desperate for explanation. 

 

“Why did you _Obliviate_ me?”

 

Hermione shivered, standing so near to the wizard. Her body remembered his touch even if she didn’t. Her gaze traveled his features, allowing herself to enjoy them as she’d always forbidden herself to. His lips twitched, drawing her attention. They were the same that had maniacally threatened her but she couldn’t help but wonder what they would feel like on her skin.

 

“Regret,” he hissed.

 

A black hole swallowed Hermione’s heart and it felt like a physical blow.

 

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she barely managed to say, despair welling. Rationale said that she was a cow because she had no relationship with Lucius Malfoy. To feel such loss was illogical.

 

“No,” he said, catching Hermione’s arm before she could escape.

 

“I assumed that _you_ would regret.”

 

Hermione covered the hand on her arm with hers; it was cold with fear.

 

“You were inebriated,” he said softly, his voice trailing as Hermione’s fingers caressed his hand.

 

“We’ll never know but I do wish you hadn’t Obliviated me - I would have remembered to take a Morning After potion.”

 

“No aspirations for motherhood..?”

 

“Not like this,” Hermione replied darkly.

 

“Is it safe to assume that you are not angry?” Lucius asked with a lift of his chin.

 

“No, no. I’m furious with you. But I would not have regretted that night,” Hermione clarified as Lucius drew her into his arms.

 

“I was uncertain,” Lucius admitted. “Our pasts what they are but I’ve wanted you for years.”

 

Hermione looked up into his face and felt her anger deflate as warmth filled her. How could she blame him for insecurity?

 

“It has been my most secret desire to be a mum,” she heard herself say. She’d never told a soul. She wasn’t viewed as matronly.

 

“I’m happy to assist in fulfilling that desire many as times as you like.”

 

Lucius’ smug expression made Hermione huff but the enormity of meaning in his tone and words held her speechless. It was completely mad, but Hermione had never felt more certain of anything as she acceded to a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: warm fuzzies  
> Summary: Written for GE’s Christmas Secret Challenge but finished late. Prompt: Hermione finds out she is pregnant on Christmas Eve.  
> Originally posted Dec. 13, 2009


End file.
